Madison River

Thursday, May 17, 11:57 a.m. MDT

Current River Levels

For 7-day, 30-day, and one-year graphs, click bold type below.

GAGE LOCATION	DAY/YEAR GRAPHS	CURRENT STAGE/FLOW	WHAT TIME

Madison near West Yellowstone	7 30 year	/	N/A
Madison below Hebgen Lake	7 30 year	/	N/A
Madison at Kirby Ranch	7 30 year	/	N/A
Madison below Ennis Lake	7 30 year	/	N/A

Weather

Click bold type for weather from NOAA, Accuweather, or The Weather Channel

CITY

West Yellowstone	NOAA	Accuweather	TWC
Ennis	NOAA	Accuweather	TWC
Bozeman	NOAA	Accuweather	TWC

What to Expect in May

What usually happens. Best way to use this section.

Hatches divided by half-month. Super Major Minor Slight None

HATCH	NYMPH/ LARVA	PUPA/ EMERGER	DUN/ ADULT	EGG- LAYER

Blue-winged olive
Green drake
Pale morning dun
March brown
Grannom
Spotted caddis
Green caddis
Golden stonefly
Salmonfly
Cranefly
Midge
Scud
Sculpin
Crayfish
Baitfish
Sowbug

The lower Madison is somewhat sheltered from runoff effects and is worth considering. Grannom caddis provide some of the action this month. Match them with a size 12-14 imitation, such as an Elk Hair Caddis. If the river is fishable, there could be some intense caddis hatches. Tie on an X Caddis, Elk Hair Caddis, or Casanova Caddis for a dry fly, or a Sparkle Pupa or Deep Sparkle Pupa for a wet pattern. Until evening, subsurface caddis patterns will be most effective, but by evening you should do well with a dry fly. The lower Madison sees at least two kinds of caddis at this time. One is a size 10-12 brown bug, and the other is size 14-16 with a green body.

Blue-winged olives and March browns can also be a factor this month.

In the absence of hatches, go subsurface with Woolly Buggers and a beadhead nymph (Pheasant Tail, Prince, Copper John, etc.) on a dropper.

On the upper Madision, the story is similar, but usually everything happens about a week or two later. Also, the big uncertainty is how water managers will treat the rivers and dams upstream from the Madison. Watch the river levels carefully on Westfly's river level pages.

Outside Yellowstone Park, the Madison is open all year except the Quake Lake to McAtee and Ennis Bridge to Ennis Lake sections, which don't open until the third Saturday in May.

See the Rivers in General report for more May fly fishing tips.

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